Archives For: September 2011

Saybrook PsyD student Martha White's recent presentation to Hawaii state officials, including the Lt. Governor, has been posted to video. It can be seen here.

White gave the presentation, on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), as part of Hawaii's programs for International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Awareness Day.

It's a subject White has been passionate about since adopting a child from Eastern Europe who suffers from FASD. Her experience tending to her adopted daughter led her to eventually become a mental health counselor and advocate for children with related syndromes. She has a private counseling and consulting practice, specializing in preschool mental health, challenging behaviors, and adult recovery from childhood trauma.

Dr. Louis Hoffman, a member of Saybrook University's psychology faculty, has been named President-Elect of the Society for Humanistic Psychology.

He began the role in August of this year, and will become President of the society in August, 2012.

Hoffman will replace current SHP president David Elkins. Both Hoffman and Elkins are members of The New Existentialists, a new movement in existential-humanistic psychology that emerged out of the work of faculty and alumni of Saybrook's Graduate College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies.

"It's an honor," said Hoffman, "particularly at this time that many are describing as a renaissance in humanistic psychology and current president David Elkins described as the most excitement in humanistic psychology since the 1970s. Having served on the board for several years, I am quite aware of the talented leaders and scholars that are involved helping attain this resurgence. I hope that we can continue to build upon what we have accomplished, such as drawing in a large base of extraordinarily talented students and early career psychologists to become involved with the society, and creating a very successful annual conference. In particular, I hope we can increase the diversity in the division, including taking a critical examination of what it means for the division to embrace and value diversity. This, I believe, is necessary for us to continue to grow and stay relevant in an increasingly diverse and international society."

The director of Saybrook University’s programs in Social Transformation, Dr. Federman published an article in Common Dreams last month warning that the democracy movement in Egypt was not over – and that the military’s clearing of protestors from Tahrir Square long after the autocrats were supposed to be out of power was an indication of the struggle to come.

“The world should be watching Tahrir Square,” he warned, after returning from a trip to Egypt where he spoke with democracy activists and civic leaders.

The September special issue of the journal Neuroquantology – an interdisciplinary journal of neuroscience and quantum physics – focused on “Pioneers who changed the face of science and those that have been mentored by them” and featured several members of Saybrook University’s faculty.

Amedeo Giorgi, Ruth Richards, and Louis Hoffman – all faculty in Saybrook’s psychology programs – were the subjects of featured articles. In addition, faculty members Marc Applebaum and Ruth Richards contributed articles.